The WalTruck Page

For 11 years,
across the country 6 times, through 46 of the continental 48 states, for 211,000 miles this truck never let me down. (Well, there was the
blown head gasket...)

Regular and preventive maintenance taught me that mechanics are a truck's worst enemy. Most major problems with this truck happened shortly after a mechanic touched the truck. I especially will never forget the hideous ticking noise in the engine when I picked it up from the Toyota dealer after the 60,000 mile recommended maintenance. ("It sounded like that when you brought it in, Mister! Oh, and they're supposed to sound like that!") How could I forget it -- every mechanic who's heard it for the last 150,000 miles has tried to charge me thousands of dollars to make it stop....

It holds *tons* of stuff. In 1993 I put all my stuff in storage, loaded the truck up with camping and scuba gear, and lived out of it for a year, just for fun.

I blew the shocks out three times when off-road. I never lost control -- but then again I'm understand my vehicle, and don't do stupid things like put Firestone tires on it, or drive it like a family car. Last time I looked, it was a 4WD truck...

I bought it before SUV's were cool. It replaced my pickup which I bought before pickups were cool... Whatever I buy seems to become the cool thing to own all over the country, so I'm sure the whole world is wondering what I'll do next. (How about a Moped!) It won't be another SUV -- they're too mainstream now.
The backside of the bell curve is buying them.

So What's to Become of My Truck?

My friend Bill Odom is taking his Wife and two children, buying a lake in Montana, and moving back to the mountains. He's going to live in the woods in Montana in January. Since his Pathfinder was seized and impounded by the CHP, he needs a new truck.

I'm giving him my truck on the condition that he puts new tires on it, changes the fluids regularly, fixes the leaking left rear axle seal, and Registers the Truck and Pays Taxes on it! And when it finally dies, he has to haul it back to a nice quiet spot in the forest, put it up on blocks and let it rust!

At this stage my truck is too beat up to sell as used to an unsuspecting owner (especially with that Ticking noise in the engine) and if I trade it in at a dealership they'll just strip it for junkyard parts, chop the rest up into scrap metal and turn it into washing machines and galvanized joist hangars.

My truck deserves better -- a nice long retirement in the mountains, being a 4WD truck again...
Like an old tractor.

Quick Haiku for my truck
(Okay, it's not Basho...)

Running forever,

all body panels Bondo'ed.

Head for Montana.

I pulled this picture from my 1993 Feature Length Film "Wally's Year Off
(or) Travels With Barney".
(Do you see Barney hanging on?)

Despite the difficulties with the Federal Rangers about being on this logging road, this is how I always want to remember my truck.

And here's
Amy, Bill and Skylar
with their new truck
(the canoe came with it.)

Good Luck in Montana!

Goodbye, WalTruck!